孟郊诗

Poems of Meng Jiao


Index

隐士

Recluse


本末一相返
漂浮不还真
山野多馁士
市井无饥人

It was all my own fault, this
Drifting about, this avoiding the truth.
In the hills are many starving gentlemen.
In town, even the beggars eat.

虎豹忌当道
糜鹿知藏身
奈何贪竞者
日与患害亲

Tigers and leopards avoid the open road.
Little deer all know to hide.
Why do the greedy in the city
Prey daily even on their kin?

颜貌岁岁改
利心朝朝新
孰知富生祸
取富不取贫

Every year, I have a different face but
A good heart is every morning new.
Only those who don't know the problems money
Brings will choose money rather that poverty.

宝玉忌出璞
出璞先为尘
松柏忌出山
出山先为薪

Precious gems avoid the cutting.
They know it only leads to dust.
Honest men avoid preferment.
They know it only leads to cash.

君子隐石壁
道书为我邻
寝兴思其义
澹泊味始真

As a gentleman, I hide behind these cliffs
With only Daoist scriptures for my neighbors.
Sleeping, waking, I think of righteousness.
In this quiet, I begin to sense the truth.

陶公自放归
尚平去有依
草木择地生
禽鸟顺性飞

Even Tao Qian finally returned.
Shang Ping gave up his seclusion too.
Trees and flowers choose their soil
Birds follow their nature and fly.

青青与冥冥
所保各不违

In brightness or obscurity,
We take what refuge we can.

-- 孟郊


废话

A poem from Meng Jiao's wandering years, his mid-twenties, I think. Late enough for his solitary wandering to have matured. But not late enough for his poetry to be matured. This poem seems awkward to me with false starts and roughly handled constructions. It's as if he feels something that he wants to get down on paper. But he can't sort out what that something is. Or maybe it's better than I think. The English reads well. It was the transition of translation where all the awkwardness was felt.


Index